by Jacqueline Shields

The first Jews to settle in Panama were Spanish and Portuguese Conversos who were forced to practice their Judaism in secret. At the end of Spanish colonial rule in 1821, Panama became attached to Colombia and at this time several Sephardi Jews from Jamaica and Ashkenazi Jews from Central Europe settled in the province. Due to the lack of a strong Jewish community, many of them intermarried and assimilated. In the middle of the nineteenth century, a number of immigrants of Sephardi origin from the Carribean region, and a few Askenazim from Europe, settled in Panama. The first Jewish community, Kol Shearith Israel, was founded in 1876. With time, the community bcame identified with the Reform movement.

Kol Shearith Israel Synagogue

After the construction of the Panama Canal, the census of 1911 reported 505 Jews in Panama. In 1933, Sephardi Jews from Israel and Syria established a second community and an Orthodox synagogue, Shevet Achim, now the largest congregation in Panama. Owing to intermarriage, however, the Kol Shearith Israel congregation diminished considerably, and in spite of the immigration of a large number of Jews after World War I, Panamanian Jewry was estimated in 1936 at only 600 people. A third congregation, Beth El, is also an Orthodox synagogue and consists of a small group of Ashkenazi Jews who arrived in the 1930's from Nazi dominated Europe.

Jews have cherished their political rights and held high positions in the Republic. Panama is the only country besides Israel that has had two Jewish presidents in the twentieth century; from 1964-68 Max Delvalle was the first vice president of the Republic and later President. Eric Delvalle Maduro was president from 1987-1988.

There are three Jewish day schools from primary through high school in Panama City. The most recently opened school is the Escuela Isaac Rabin is affiliated with the Reform community. The other two institutions are orthodox, the Instituto Alberto Einstein, which was founded in 1954 is the eldest of the three and is modern orthodox. Finally, the third school is the Academia Hebrea de Panama. The schools have over 1,300 students enrolled. At this time they are also building a Yeshiva.